Daily Democratic Wire 2-21-2010

George Wenschhof

Tonight, President Obama and the first Lady will host the Governors ball at the White House - At their meeting this week, Governors have been discussing the need for health care reform. The bipartisan Health Care Summit is scheduled for Thursday and will be televised by at least CSPAN. MSNBC.com has more here.

If the Republicans who show up at the summit only act as obstructionists and continue to spout "no", the voters will see them for what they are; a political party that has lost connection with the voters and are desperately trying what ever means possible for political opportunism to rejuvenate a failing political party.

A novel approach would be for Republicans to work with Democrats to pass a bill that will help to insure the 40+ million without it. The components are many in the bill but let's start with eliminating a insurance company being able to deny coverage due to preexisting conditions, regulate insurance premium increases so the ridiculous 39% increase by Anthem Blue Cross in California can not happen, and let's see some reasonable tort reform when it comes to medical malpractice.

Instead of saying "no", how about Republicans negotiating and reaching consensus on a bill that will benefit all Americans.

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Representative Ron Paul (R-Tex.) wins CPAC straw poll - seems the attendees of the Conservative Political Conference Committee are just as fractured as the Republican Party.

After several days of listening to presidential wannabees take turns at bashing the Obama administration and trying to show how conservative they are, the best they could come up with as a candidate was Ron Paul, who is known for his libertarian principles. TheHill.com has more here.

Paul only garnered 31% of the vote and was followed by perennial CPAC winner; former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who received 22% of the vote. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin only received 7% and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty with 6%.

Hardly a group of candidates for Democrats to be concerned with in the 2012 election.

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CNN/Opinion research poll shows 86% believe government is broken - however, 86% of the 81% believe it can be fixed. CNN.com has more here.

The Republican Party can help change this public perception by stopping the record number of times a filibuster has been used in the Senate in the history of our country and allowing the majority to rule.

Speaking of rules, that is what the filibuster is; a Senate "rule" which can be and has been changed in the past. You can read more here. It was 67 and was changed to 60 back in 1975. In addition to changing the required number of votes needed, the senate should also define what items' which come before the senate for a vote, would be subject to the filibuster rule. For example, the appointment by the President of a Department Head should not be subject to a filibuster, but instead, a simple majority vote.

The filibuster was not designed and put in place for the benefit of a minority party to stop all legislation and to create political gridlock.

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Roslyn Brock elected chair; NAACP Board of Directors - she will be replacing the well known and long active in the civil rights movement chair; Julian Bond. Ms. Brock is the youngest and the fourth woman to serve as chair of the NAACP. NAACP.org has more here.

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